Wednesday, February 2, 2011

FILIPINO TATTOOS

Filipino tattoos are a part of the tribal tattooing in many parts of Philippines but is vanishing gradually. These tattoo designs were once upon a time the most well known forms of body art throughout the world. The Philippine islands being one of the earliest tribal regions to start the art of tattoos, the people belonging to this region used to have their entire bodies inked with multiple religious symbols and designs. Both men and women were obligated to have these tattoos made as they indicated spirituality as well as identification marks of belonging to a particular clan.

Old leaders of these tribes carried stories of their past and historical events on their bodies by the art of tattoos and often told them to the children and the youth. Thus the culture of Philippines have always had these tattoos as a part of their traditions. Given below are some such traditional Filipino tattoos for your information, so take a look!

Filipino Tattoo Designs

As these Filipino tattoos are a part of tribal tattoos and the designs are very cultural, these have symbolic significance throughout their history. Along with the people of Philippines, these traditional tattoos were often practiced by the Chinese, Egyptians and also Indians. But they all have their individual traditional symbols that they believe in. The idea behind this Filipino tattoo meaning is the symbolism to beauty, maturity, knowledge, ranks and bravery. These qualities and beliefs were often promoted by the tribal heads of the Filipinos and thus the youth got them tattooed through symbols. Most of the Filipino youth get these tattoos inked even today keeping their roots and teachings in mind. More on tribes in the Philippines.

Tribal Filipino TattoosMany of these tribal tattoos from the Filipino origin have abstract meanings to their designs and are also very complicated to understand. They have a slight resemblance to Celtic tattoos when they are drawn with symbols and signs. Dragon tattoos drawn in the tribal styles with black ink look very attractive when made either on the back or side of the abdomen. The Philippines also considered many water animals as important living beings. Thus many of their tribal tattoos have sea horses, whales, dolphins, shells, star fish and other sea animals as the designs. Another design which is commonly used as Filipino tattoos is the symbols that define certain personality traits and these are also made in the tribal designs.

Common Filipino TattoosSome more designs which can be used as Filipino tattoos for girls as well as guys are, the designs inspired from the Philippine flag. These designs have certain tribal designs which are drawn with the flag so that the flag alone doesn’t look simple. Filipino tattoos are very commonly got on either the sleeve, abdomen or the back as they are known to be enormous designs and take up a lot of space. Phrases written in the native language are also made by many Filipinos which have certain meanings like, “Noli Me Tangere” means touch me not. More on sleeve tattoos.

Since Christianity is very dominant in the Philippine islands, these Filipinos also prefer to get designs like portraits of Mother Mary, Jesus, tribal cross tattoos and other Christian symbols. Crosses are very commonly added in a number of their tattoo designs. Angels are also used as Filipino tattoos, but they are made in either the tribal or the modern manner. There is a wide range of designs of these Filipino tattoos with flower tattoos which are made of the flowers that are commonly found on the island and also their national flower, the Sampaguita. This flower is a beautiful white flower which looks rich and elegant when it blooms. Iguanas are also a common sight on the Philippine islands and they too are a part of the tattoo world for the Filipinos.

These Filipino tattoos are surely a variety for people who are beginners to the art of tattooing. Since you have so many designs to choose from, you can go ahead and get one of these for yourselves as they all look very attractive and stylish.